Times Advocate, 1992-04-22, Page 5'1 -AtIVo itte, Apttl 22,1092 Pape 6
Lucan 's Farmgate Market offers country goodness
"1 wonder what they do there?"
"I've always wanted to stop
there, but never had the time."
LUCAN - While trekking around
the countryside, I'm sure many
tie'*ad the same thoughts when
111111111111g a particular building or
bla cress that grabs their attention.
Driving along the Denfield road
between Denfield and Clandeboyc,
there stands a sign which I have
1
passed time aftei dme. It reeds
"Farmgate Market" Of coarse
what really caught my eyes, being
of heavy appetite, was the sign
which advertised fresh baked pies.
Unfortunately, I've always been on
•+lc • J
Timee�arfrom.thiahivos:of
theTimes-Adv
10 Years Ago
April 21, 1982 - Exeter mayor Bruce Shaw is leading
an attack to gain more financial assistance from neigh-
bouring townships for shared facilities, especially the
South Huron Rec Centre.
Hay township council has been told their landfill sjte
has a life expectancy: of from eight to°15 years.
The.L'ww•Irish iwonith eiOHA4iunior "D" champion-
nYipidoritirellsabiimein tthe►dnbtar13 year -history. It was
sweet etory•forzoriginaleve-members Bob Taylor,
Clare:Stanley and Jim Freemansand coach Dave Reving-
ton.--
Stakes were placed at the Lucan area farm of Allan
.Scott in preparation for the 1982 International Plowing
Match.
25 Years Ago
April 20, 1967 -'he Ontario government will negotiate
4o buy taoadian-ForeesI1ase Centralia for the -purpose -of
tdeveloping an -industrialseducational complex which will
serve ,as a pilot project for regional government. A. Etch -
em of Ontario Development Corporation said, " We're
ready tornwveas soon as we get clearance."
A:devastating tornado blasted its way through Hensel)
and Hay, Hibbert and .TUCkersmith townships this week.
A garage and small barn -on the Harold Eliott property in
Hensall were :destroyed. from _tbere the. tornado carried
on to the farms of Glean:Bell, Martel Vanneste, Harry
Smith, GranttMci can and Bob Bell.
Centennial Day at South Huron District High School
was a smashing success according to school reporter Ann
Creech.
50 Years Ago
April 1942 - The Exeter and District Wartime Board
,aakedtown council to urge all qualified voters to vote Yes
in the :upcoming plebiscite. Dr. R.11. Taylor of Dashwood
asitedi to forget party affiliations and vote Yes to im-
press the government that nothing short of an all-out ef-
fort to,wttl )the war is what Exeter people want.
Dr.-W.S. Stanbury, formerly of Exeter was in charge
or the first mobile blood donor clinic in England. King
George and Queen Elizabeth were in attendance.
A letter from Sam Bower in England thanked area
residents for the cigarettes he received. He mentioned run-
ning into Jack Jesney and Cal Cutting.
100 Years Ago
April 21,1892 - Hugh Miller of Cromarty was the first
farmer in the area to finish seeding this spring. He was
through on April 15.
James Cumming of Tuckersmith township rented his
100 acre farm to W.11. Hudson for five years at $325 per
year to be paid in advance.
Wm. Marshall of Usborne township held a successful
sale last week. Cows brought $30 each and sheep from $15
to $22 a pair.
It is generally umoured that B. Brown of Crediton
has exchanged his boot and shoe business for a,grist mill
in Michigan.
South Perth Liberals in convention assembled a fund
of $1,500 to protest James Pridham's election. Half that
money wisely expended on election day might have pur-
chased a majority, small, but sufficient to keep James
Trow in Parliament.
Prompt government action is to be taken to extermi-
nate lotteries in the province of Quebec.
Several deer have been seen at Grand Bend during the
past week.
my way to a certain destination and
usually running about half an hour
late, which makes stopping out 01
the question.
But on this particular day 1 was
finally about to quel both curiousi-
ty and appetite.
In 1973, the property at RR2 Lu -
can housed nothing more than a
cornfield. But later that year Doug
and Nola Murray moved to the area
from London, and laid the founda-
tion for what has become a vitt'
successful family business.
In a very shop time, the Murrays,
together with sons Doug Jr. and
Keith, were able to carve from the
landscape both an orchard and a
home, and have since launched a
unique, down-home, country mar-
ket.
"We started out with apples,
strawberries, raspberries and a few
other tidbits," said Keith, who had
just finished a morning of pruning
trees. "Now we're into all kinds of
things.,'
The •Murray's orchard produces
between 3-4,000 bushels of -apples
yearly, and includes many varieties
such as McIntosh, Ida red, empire,
northern spy, Paula red, and yellow
and red delicious.
The market operation opened
only six years ago, but each year
since, new. crops have been added
to the 30 acre farm, hence expan-
sion. As each crop became perfect-
ed, new uses were found for each
commodity. For example, apples
were soon being harvested for ci-
der.
"Last year, the largest pan of ex-
pansion was to add a bakery," said
Keith. "And what we wanted was to
produce baked goods which would
incorporate all our own products
from the ground
P."
Farmgate now offers a large se-
lection of home baking, and prides
itself on 'building everything from
scratch.
The bake strop is 6pdrsted by the
women in the family; Nola together
with Doug's wife Caroline and
Keith's wife Carol. Together they
fombine to do all of the baking,
turning out fresh pies, four types of
bread, muffins and other baked
goods made with fresh, homemade
ingredients.
Their biggest product is by far
homemade pie, made with their
own oven -baked pie shells and nat-
ural fillings such as apple and blue-
berry.
"We buy and sell very link," con-
firmed Keith. "Nearly everything
we sell is produced right here."
Farmgate carries a full range of
produce,
but the
Murray =-
family also
prides it-
self on of-
fering the
best prod-
ucts which
the immedi-
ate commu-
nity has to of-
fer. For
example, while browsing the aisles
you find Silver Creek beans from
Lucan, Country Chocolates from
Nairn, Ferguson Honey from Hen -
sail, and maple syrup. products
tapped from trees virtually next
door.
"There are a lot of good products
being produced right in our own
back yard," agreed Keith. "We're
hoping a lot of people will start to
realize that."
In addition, the Murrays also pro-
cess many of their own preserves.
"The girls do big time canning in
the summer," chuckled Keith.
Along with everythingin else they
do the women have a very busy
summer putting down chili sauce,
apple chutney, pickles and a host of
jellies and jams.
"It's taken a while to fine tune
all of our recipes," said Keith.
"And it took a lot of objective opin-
ion for our meat products."
Once again, it is the Murrays' ob-
jective to add one new meat prod-
uct per year. Farmgate's newest
product is a tortiere, a French-
Canadian meat pie for which the
recipe has been handed down on
Nola's side for generations.
This innovation of new products
is just one of the many reasons why
'the business has become successful
enough to warrant year round oper-
ation, and just last May the family
opened a second location in the Wi-
arton area. At both locations the
Murrays have already established a
good relationship with the tourists.
-But what we really -wantistoes-
.tablish a strong local business,"
said Keith.
Farmgate is open seven days a
week from 9 a.m.-6 p.m,, but as of
May I will switch to 8 a.m.-8 k.m.
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